BPM to milliseconds calculator
Enter a tempo to get the length of every note in milliseconds, including dotted and triplet values for setting delay and reverb times. The quick rule: 60,000 ÷ BPM = milliseconds per beat, so 120 BPM is 500 ms. Tap along to a song to find its tempo.
How to convert BPM to milliseconds
A minute has 60,000 milliseconds, so one beat lasts 60,000 ÷ BPM ms. In most music the beat is a quarter note. An eighth note is half that, a half note double. A dotted note is 1.5 times as long, and a triplet fits three notes in the space of two, so it is two-thirds as long.
Producers use these numbers to set delay so the echoes land on the beat, to time reverb pre-delay and release, and to set LFO rates in hertz. At 120 BPM a quarter-note delay is 500 ms, a dotted eighth (the classic rhythmic delay) is 375 ms, and a sixteenth is 125 ms.
Common tempos
Hip-hop often sits between 85 and 95 BPM, pop and house between 115 and 128, drum and bass around 170 to 175. A resting human heart beats at about 60 to 80 BPM, which is why 60 BPM is exactly one beat per second. Practise with the online metronome.
Questions people ask
How many milliseconds is 120 BPM?
500 ms per beat (quarter note). An eighth note is 250 ms and a sixteenth note is 125 ms.
What is the formula for BPM to ms?
Milliseconds per beat = 60,000 ÷ BPM. For dotted notes multiply by 1.5; for triplets multiply by 2/3.
How do I find the BPM of a song?
Press Tap tempo in time with the beat for a few seconds. The calculator averages your last taps.
How do I convert milliseconds to BPM?
BPM = 60,000 ÷ milliseconds per beat. A 400 ms beat is 150 BPM.